Talk of schism over female and gay bishops worries US Anglicans

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=080717013001.imphe2eg.php

[IC Publications] 17 Jul 2008--As Anglican bishops gathered in Canterbury for a once-a-decade conference, US members of the Anglican Communion are fretting about talk of a schism over the ordination of female and gay bishops.

"Rumors of a split are, I believe, exaggerated," Patrick Cook, 19, an Anglican-Catholic -- who are very similar to Roman Catholics but do not follow the Pope -- told AFP.

"If there is one thing Anglicans do well, it is compromise. The church has survived the controversial ordination of women as priests... this, too, shall pass," the young Texan said.
The Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican Communion, ordained women priests in 1994 amid a storm of controversy.

Last week, leaders of the Church of England voted to allow women bishops -- ignoring threats by more than 1,300 clergy members to quit over the issue.

Liberal and conservative branches of the church are also at odds over the consecration by the Episcopal Church -- the US branch of the Anglican church -- of an openly gay priest, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, and Barbara Harris as the US church's first female bishop in 1989.

"The homosexuality issue excites the most conflict on a global basis. Women bishops is an issue in England," said Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religion at Pennsylvania State University.